LeBruin, a leading corporate finance and debt advisory provider, has recently launched Profunder, a new online lending platform specialising in providing loans between €1m and €3m.

Profunder allows borrowers to apply for a commercial real estate loan through a four-step online application process. Feedback is provided to borrowers at each stage, and if an application meets Profunder’s lending criteria, a representative will contact the borrower to finalise their loan.

Profunder has been established to provide much needed liquidity in the sub-€3m lending market, which continues to be underserved by traditional lenders. In addition, the online application form has been designed to make the loan application and drawdown process much less time consuming and more efficient for the borrower.

In developing Profunder, LeBruin liaised with experienced financial services and technology professionals, including Aleksandra Ljubinkovic, a former Google executive. The team researched a number of financial technology platforms to see how this growing area of financial services could be applied to the Irish market. The team identified a particular opportunity to develop an online lending platform for commercial real estate lending between €1m and €3m.

The launch of Profunder is the latest development for LeBruin, which launched Origin Capital, a senior debt fund for commercial real estate loans in excess of €3m, in April 2015. Since its launch, Origin Capital has lent over €70m, and has recently secured funding capacity from Morgan Stanley which will allow the company to provide higher LTV funding for CRE projects across a wide variety of asset classes, and to complete for significantly larger transactions.

Commenting on the launch of Profunder, Director Cathal Fitzgerald stated ‘We’re very excited about the launch of Profunder. Over the last two years, we have seen through our experience with Origin Capital that there is an ongoing unmet need for alternative funding sources in the Irish market. At the same time, our extensive research has shown that there is a real opportunity to use financial technology to improve the loan fulfilment process for borrowers. We think there is a great opportunity for Profunder to become a leading provider for commercial real estate loans between €1m and €3m”.